we were invited by anne and mike lawrie to go to anne's parents house on lake michigan for memorial day weekend. we never go anywhere and quickly decided we would love to attend. i was a bit anxious, as i always am whenever we take the boys anywhere, knowing that this could be quite the challenging weekend. but i also know giving the boys opportunities like this USUALLY outweighs the negatives, so we packed up our bags and caravaned out to montage on friday afternoon with the wood family.heather and i were the designated drivers and the trip started out on a high note when i saw that heather could totally hang with me. at one point i made a move and ended up clocking about 92 mph. heather had to make a bolder move and andrew later said he looked down and saw 98. there were plenty of cops out on the road that day but we were able to out run all of them.
after a stop at cracker barrel and then a quick stop at a grocery store, we pulled up to the house around 8pm or so and most of the other families were already there. the kids quickly jumped out of the cars and started playing while we got a tour of the beautiful house we'd be staying in. when we first got inside i was so focused on grabbing talan as he was running out the back door that i didn't even realize the view was nothing but blue sky and lake michigan. i have been missing the ocean desperately lately, and this view almost made up for it.
once everyone got there (the curtis family arrived on saturday) there was a total of 18 adults and 21 kids. 6 families stayed in the main house and the other 3 families stayed in the barn house right across the street. we referred to these families as the "barn people" and tried to communicate with them as little as possible.
we spent the weekend with mike, anne, soren, elliot and silas lawrie, matt, terra, erin and caitlin lawrie, andrew, heather, ellanore, henry and cordelia wood, mike, micki, lexi and luke czach, tim, amy, jack and kate story, mick, jill, michaela and sean story, rob, christy and genevive burke, and rob, leah, gabe, josie, nate and millie curtis. we have known almost all of these families for years and years as we all grew up together at ward. dave and i have not really been in touch with many of them and it was so great to be invited and spend time with them again.
our family ended up staying in the huge play room upstairs which worked out perfectly. there was a little play house where we stuck talan's crib and had him sleep. i was pretty scared talan would have a hard time sleeping as he HATES sleeping in pack and plays. so i thought sticking him in the little play room would hopefully keeps his screams a little quieter throughout the rest of the house. in the end, talan ended up crying for no more than 5 minutes every nite when we first put him down. and he never woke up in the middle of the nite. we didn't give him naps so that we could put him down at 7 and wear him out. it seems to have worked.
we all let the kids play for a bit on friday nite and then we put them all to bed so we could hang out and talk in peace. i think we all headed to bed somewhere around 1 or 2 in the morning and we were all pretty much up around 7am.
after eating breakfast on saturday morning, we walked down the steep stairs to the beach with the boys. it was an overcast day and wasn't too warm so we were wearing jeans and sweatshirts. we took our shoes off and let the boys walk in the water which was freezing. hayden kept asking if he could just take all of his clothes off and go for a swim while talan didn't even want his feet touching the water. eventually, hayden got a little deeper in the water and the waves started crashing up a little higher. suddenly i look over and hayden "fell" into the water. so we took his sweatshirt off and let him go nuts. dave even threw him in 3 times. we headed back up the stairs so we could rinse the boys off and get them into some dry, warm clothes. pretty much as we were coming up, most of the other families were heading down.
later that afternoon dave went out with a couple other people to pick up a few groceries and some underwear since he forgot to pack it and he thankfully brought talan with him. hayden played with the other kids while i helped to get dinner ready for the kids. the kids ate their dinner at around 5:30 with dave and i counting the minutes until we could lay talan down to bed. we put him down just after 7 while the other kids went into the media room to watch a movie before they all headed off to bed.
the adults then started to get dressed up for our formal dinner nite in which the theme was "mike czach." mike had sent out an email to everyone saying we were going to have this theme but keep it a secret from mike. we would all pretend it was going to be an 80's theme knowing that mike wouldn't dress up anyway. really, i'm totally with mike on the dressing up thing and probably only participated because i wore camo pants and carried a gun. pretty much every day for me.
the costumes were great and when we all came out together, it seemed like mike got the theme pretty quickly. he later sent out an email dubbing tim and amy story as the winners, which i fully agree with.
sunday morning we all woke up and had a time of worship with the adults while the kids went off with a few of the adults to have a little lesson and then painted rocks. i was able to stay for most of the singing with talan while he grabbed a play guitar and showed off his mad skills, but eventually had to head upstairs with the rest of the kids as there was no way he was going to sit still.
after our time of worship a group of guys went to play golf while the rest of us hung out and watched the kids. we took another trip to the beach, this time with the boys in their swimsuits. most of the families took off a little after 11 but we decided to eat lunch and then head down. genevive burke wasn't really feeling it but dave was somehow able to talk her into it. by the time we got down there, rob and genevive were already there. we set up camp and hung out for quite awhile. a little bit after we got there, christy joined us. i have to say, that this was probably my most favorite part of the whole weekend. hayden had a great time in the water while talan and genevive played together in the sand and stayed clear of the water. dave buried himself, then hayden and then genevive in the sand. and shortly before we headed back to the house, genevive and talan decided it just might be fun to jump in the puddles.
once we got back to the house we all took showers and then i headed outside to sit on the deck with some of the girls while hayden picked up the guitar and literally played to the shed for over 15 minutes. we hung out for awhile and then a bunch of the kids headed to the front to play while a bunch of the girls went and took a walk. i brought talan along and he ended up falling asleep about 5 minutes before we got back to the house. i decided to wake him up so that he would still go to bed at 7 that nite even though it was REALLY tempting to just let him sleep so we wouldn't have to chase him!
the kids ate dinner, made s'mores and then watched a movie before heading to bed. the adults then started eating dinner somewhere between the s'mores and kids bedtime. once the kids were in bed we played a few games and then the guys went to the media room to watch the taped hockey game while the girls played a vicious game of spoons in which terra came out the winner....and i don't think she even had any injuries.
we woke up monday morning and started packing up. we kept the kids occupied with tv while the adults started cleaning up the house. we then had the kids make tie-dye shirts, eat lunch and hang outside for a bit while we finished up the cleaning and then everyone started heading home.
we left just before 1pm and i figured talan would crash in the car soon after...he never did fall asleep. we got home at 4pm, unpacked, ate some pizza and put the kids to bed. hayden didn't fall asleep until after 10pm that nite and talan stayed up longer then i thought he would as well.
me? i'm still trying to catch up on sleep with early bed times and afternoon naps.
the weekend was busy, loud, chaotic, exhausting, relaxing and fun and i am so happy that i fought through my anxiety and went. it was so wonderful to hang out with all of you and to get to know you all a bit better. i know that hayden had a great time playing with all of your kids and i'm so happy i was able to give both of the boys that experience this past weekend.
thank you from the bottom of our hearts, mike and anne, for inviting us and allowing us to take part in such a great weekend. and thank you to your parents, anne, for allowing 39 people to raid their home for the weekend. it was a very generous gift and we really do appreciate it.
the accommodations:
talan's room:
the barn accommodations:
friday nite after the kids were in bed:
saturday morning before heading out on our beach excursion. ellanore, kate, hayden and genevive:
headed down the 127 stairs to the beach:
so much for keeping his clothes dry:
and this is the moment we said "ahhh, screw it":
this is when talan fell in the water. he didn't like it. it's a shame i didn't capture his face:
headed back up to the house to get warmed up:
eating lunch after getting all dry and warm:
luke and talan:
rob and genevive:
hayden wondering when he can go back to the lake:
saturday afternoon. dave and i brought out the bubbles and chalk and the kids came out of nowhere:
saturday evening. dinner of spaghetti and meatballs for the kids before the themed dinner for the adults:
the kids went to bed and the adults got dressed up for the "mike czach" themed dinner. we finally got around to eating at around 10pm or so:
mike seemed to catch on pretty quickly to the theme:
the winners, amy and tim story with mike:
andrew, heather, mike and christy:
andrew wood and mike czach:
anne and mike lawrie:
andrew and heather wood. the thing is, i think i might have a picture from way back of andrew looking exactly like this:
amy story:
rob and christy burke:
sunday morning. everyone sang a few worship songs together before the kids went upstairs for their lesson:
the kids having their sunday school lesson:
the kids picking out rocks to paint:
erin, ella and hayden showing off their rocks:
the kids went around and shared what they are thankful for:
a group shot of at least most of the kids. want me to name them all? cuz i can:
painting their rocks:
sunday after lunch we headed to the beach with the burke family. talan and genevive found the perfect spot far from the water:
while hayden couldn't wait to get in the water:
talan, rob, christy, genevive, hayden and dave:
talan sat back and watched the burials from a distance:
genevive's turn to be buried:
rob, genevive and christy rinsing the sand off:
that was deep enough:
he would pick up handfuls of sand and either eat it or rub it all over himself. what can i say, he likes exfoliation: 
trying to tan that white pastey body of his:
genevive and rob:
dave would throw a bottle cap into the water and hayden would swim to it, get it and bring it back. maybe all we do really need is a shock collar:
genevive and talan started getting brave:
sunday evening s'mores:
jack story:
ellanore wood:
hayden roasted 2 and ate 0:
after the kids were in bed on sunday evening we watched the sunset in peace:
do yourself a favor and enlarge this photo. notice the seagull. i'm totally taking this shot to a calendar making store:
monday morning before heading home. a bunch of tree hugging hippies making their tie-dye shirts:
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